Effect of Methyl Jasmonate Treatments on Fruit Quality and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities of Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) During Cold Storage

The study was carried out to investigate the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments (0.5 and 1.0 mM MeJA) on quality characteristics such as weight loss, respiration rate, ethylene production, color, total phenolic content (TPC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and antioxidant enzyme activities of sour cherry fruit (Prunus cerasus L. cv. 'Kutahya') during cold storage. Fruit were stored at 0 +/- 1 degrees C and 90 +/- 5% RH for 36 days. The results indicated that MeJA treatments showed higher levels of total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity and quality and were also effective on superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), malondialdehyde (MDA), ethylene production and respiration rate. In conclusion, 0.5 mM MeJA treatment showed the best maintaining of fruit quality among the concentrations of MeJA. It can be suggested that sour cherry could be stored successfully for 36 days at 0 degrees C following treatment of MeJA.